1. This excerpt is taken from the author’s Preface to the New York Edition of The Novels and Tales of Henry James (1907–9), volume XVIII.
1. blue lake: The lake upon which Vevey is situated is Lake Geneva.
2. Ocean House … Congress Hall: These are two large hotels in the American resort towns of Newport, Rhode Island, and Saratoga, New York, respectively.
3. Castle of Chillon: A medieval castle built on an island in Lake Geneva. It is well known from Byron’s “The Prisoner of Chillon” (1816), which is alluded to later in the text.
4. “Academy”: James refers to the Academy of Geneva, which was to become, several years later, the University of Geneva.
5. the cars: The railway cars.
6. courier: A person employed to make travel arrangements.
1. Forty-Second Street: Murray Hill, the East Side district bordered on the north by Forty-second Street, was, at the time, one of the most fashionable areas of Manhattan.
2. comme il faut: A French phrase meaning “proper” (literally, “as it should be”).
3. oubliettes: An oubliette is a dungeon whose only entrance is through a trapdoor at the top. From the French word for “to forget.”
4. unhappy Bonnivard: A sixteenth-century prisoner in the Castle of Chillon and the hero of Byron’s 1816 poem “The Prisoner of Chillon.”
1. ‘Paule Méré’: Paule Méré was a novel by Victor Cherbuliez (1829–99) published in 1865.
2. infant Hannibal: Hannibal (247–183 B.C.) was the general who led the Carthaginians against Rome in the Second Punic War. His father, Hamilcar Barca, was a general who led forces against Rome in the First Punic War and, according to Livy, made his son pledge eternal hostility to Rome when still a child.
3. Pincio: A large public park situated on a hill that gives views of the entire city.
4. amoroso: “Boyfriend” in Italian.
5. victoria: A light four-wheeled carriage for two with a folding top.
1. Elle s’affiche, la malheureuse: “She’s making a scene, the poor girl” in French.
2. cavaliere avvocato: An Italian phrase that translates as “gentleman lawyer” and may be related to the minor title of distinction cavaliere, which is analogous to the British title “knight.”
3. marchese: Marquis.
4. qui se passe ses fantaisies: “Who lives as she wishes” in French.
5. Velasquez: The Spanish court painter Diego Velázquez (1599–1660).
6. du meilleur monde: “Of the best society” in French.
7. “Manfred”: A dramatic poem published by Byron in 1817. The lines referred to are from Manfred’s soliloquy in the beginning of Act III, Scene iv: “upon such a night/I stood within the Coliseum’s wall,/ ’midst the chief relics of almighty Rome.”
8. perniciosa: Malaria, the “fever” mentioned earlier.